The following will illustrate the process to setup a new Data Domain 2500 appliance and how to enable DD Boost using Fibre Channel connectivity. DD Boost provides more efficient backups by distributing parts of the deduplication process to the backup server. Veeam can be configured to take advance of this process by using a DD Boost repository. Veeam installs a DD Boost library that communicates with the DD appliance which results in only unique data being transferred to the DD.

To do the initial config and give the appliance an IP address see here

Once an IP address has been assigned browse to it and login as sysadmin (default password is the serial number).

First step is to configure the network, add any required additional IP addresses depending your design. For mine I will only need a management IP and a IP that will be used for replication to another DD appliance. I will be using the FC cards for my backup data. To team multiple NICs up for failover or for a LACP connection select Create – Virtual Interface – select multiple interfaces and choose the Bonding Type – Failover or Aggregate. Give the virtual interface an ID starting from 0 then assign the interface an IP address. To view the NIC setup go to Hardware – Network – Interfaces

Now add any addition disk shelf’s you might have, make sure they are properly cabled up following EMC documentation. If you have any additional disk shelf’s and they are cabled correctly you will see them under Hardware – Storage – Overview. To be able to use them select Configure Storage button. The disk shelf’s will appear as Available Storage. Select Add to Tier.

Once added expand the file system. Go to Data Management – File System – Summary. Select the More Task button – Expand Capacity. Add the available storage and expand the file system. Once complete you will see the available space

Now check the FC is communicating. Make sure you correctly zone the fibre in with the hosts. In my case I am using Veeam, the zoning uses the Veeam server as the initiator and the DD as the target. The WWPN and WWNN for the DD target can be found under Hardware – Fibre Channel – Physical Resources – Endpoints. This will report if the links are up and online, you can also label them up if you need to. Once the Veeam servers are zoned in correctly they will appear under the Initiators box – if they dont appear check your zoning.

Data Domain Boost

Now to setup DD Boost. First enable the feature – note you do need a license to run this feature so make sure you install that. To enable DD Boost go to Data Management – DD Boost – Settings. Select the Enable button next to DD Boost Status

As im using FC I need to setup a Access Group. Access Group will group the initiators up with the endpoints (target). If you have separate fabrics you can split of the initiators with the relevant endpoint in that fabric. At this point you can label the initiator to match it up with the Veeam server. Go to Data Management – Fibre Channel. Select Add button under DD Boost Access Groups. Give the group a name and select the initiators. I have two fabrics in this scenario with 3 hosts in each, I would create 2 Access Groups with the initiator and target in each fabric.

Select the relevant endpoint and select the number of devices. You have to size the devices correctly see here for sizing, in my scenario I require 4 devices.

I now need to create a Storage Unit – a type of MTree that is associated with DD Boost. Go to Data Management – Storage Units. select the Create button. Give the group a name that it relates to. In my case it will be used for Veeam as a tier 2 long term storage repository

Final step is to create a user account assigned for DD Boost. Go to Data Management – DD Boost – Settings. Select the Modify button next to DD Boost User. Give the account a name and a password with a access level. These account details are required for Veeam.

Thats it ready to go, the following blog will be integrating it with Veeam and doing some tests